Ian Crockatt was born in Perth in 1949 and now lives and works in North Aberdeenshire. His poetry has been widely published in magazines and anthologies, and won prizes in two national competitions. His poetry collections include Flood Alert (Chapman, 1996), Original Myths (Cruachan Publications, 2000), which was shortlisted for the Saltire Society’s Scottish Book of the Year Award, and The Lyrical Beast (CD - Salix Publications, 2004). He is particularly interested in the poem series as a form; The Lyrical Beast is a series of 42 sonnets exploring the relationship between our animal and artistic instincts. His latest collection is Skald (Koo Press, 2009), a series of 30 poems using a form derived from Old Norse skaldic poetry.

He completed an MLitt in Creative Writing in 2010, and is currently researching for a PhD - on translating skaldic verse from the Orkneyinga Saga - at Aberdeen University's Centre for Scandinavian Studies.